​Charlotte has long been an important transportation and rail hub in the southeastern United States. It is integral not only to the rail network in North Carolina for the movement of goods, but to the nation as well.​ View the projects update here: Charlotte Railroad Projects Update

CDOT maintains a Traffic Count Program for traffic volume counts on thoroughfares and some non-thoroughfares within the Charlotte city limits.

Each thoroughfare is on a two-year rotation for counts unless the road falls under a special need to be re-counted. Such a special need might be for the opening of a new road where a count may be performed before the opening and after the opening, in order to achieve a comparison of the traffic volumes or a new accurate count. Most non-thoroughfare counts are performed for special projects, i.e. traffic calming and new sidewalks.

The counts are AAWT's, the Average Weekday Traffic Volumes (Monday - Friday; no weekends). Thoroughfare counts are taken as a 48-hour count and averaged between the two days to arrive at a 24-hour count. This avoids counting the traffic only once on a particularly busy day or a particularly slow day, (long weekend, special weekday event, etc.). Non-thoroughfare counts are taken for a 24-hour period, on school days only unless it is determined by staff that school traffic does not influence the street's traffic volume. The count tubes are also placed approximately 200 feet away from an intersection to avoid cars waiting to enter into the intersection. This allows for a more accurate count.NCDOT maintains traffic counts that are outside the City of Charlotte limits. Visit the NCDOT travel link if you would like to request these counts.

CDOT periodically conducts a statistically valid household opinion survey about transportation-related issues in Charlotte. The survey information is used to inform citizens, elected officials and staff about the City’s transportation challenges and opportunities. For example, data from the 2016 survey are being used to inform the Transportation Action Plan update and the Charlotte WALKS and Charlotte BIKES plans.

Questions cover a variety of topics including residents’ opinions about:

Existing driving conditions

Possible solutions to congestion

Priorities for public sector actions

Growth management

Pedestrian and bicycle travel

Funding road construction and maintenance

Speeding and safety

The most recent surveys are available for download below. Previous surveys are available upon request.